New Computer, Desktop, What Hardware?

So it is an old subject but could not find any current threads. Time to get a new Desktop main uses will be email, Excell and of course Photo and Video editing. Will be buying a new HD camcorder soon.

I am a computer idiot so what should I be looking for? Looks like we will order a HP or Dell but open to other brands. Trying to keep it around US$2k.

What do I need, not need? Is Blue Ray worth it and if you get it do you need another drive to copy from other CDs?

Any and all advice welcome!!!

PROCESSOR

Intel� Core 2 Duo processor E6700 (2.66GHz)

OR

Intel� Core 2 Quad processor Q6600 (2.4GHz)

Outstanding quad-core performance for high-definition entertainment, games, multimedia creation, even when running at the same time

MEMORY

4GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)

OR

4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)

GRAPHICS CARD

64MB NVIDIA GeForce 7500LE, DVI-I, TV-out, VGA adapter

OR

12MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, TV-out, DVI-I, HDMI

HARD DRIVE

500GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive

OR

800GB RAID 0 (2 x 400GB SATA HDDs)

DVD Drive

LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive

OR

Blu-ray disc writer & HD DVD-ROM

So it is an old subject but could not find any current threads. Time to get a new Desktop main uses will be email, Excell and of course Photo and Video editing. Will be buying a new HD camcorder soon.

 

I am a computer idiot so what should I be looking for? Looks like we will order a HP or Dell but open to other brands. Trying to keep it around US$2k.

 

What do I need, not need? Is Blue Ray worth it and if you get it do you need another drive to copy from other CDs?

 

Any and all advice welcome!!!

PROCESSOR

Intel� Core 2 Duo processor E6700 (2.66GHz)

OR

Intel� Core 2 Quad processor Q6600 (2.4GHz)

Outstanding quad-core performance for high-definition entertainment, games, multimedia creation, even when running at the same time

 

MEMORY

4GB DDR2-667MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)

OR

4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)

 

GRAPHICS CARD

64MB NVIDIA GeForce 7500LE, DVI-I, TV-out, VGA adapter

OR

12MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, TV-out, DVI-I, HDMI

 

HARD DRIVE

500GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive

OR

800GB RAID 0 (2 x 400GB SATA HDDs)

 

DVD Drive

LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive

OR

Blu-ray disc writer & HD DVD-ROM

Just a few thoughts...

I believe the benefits of the quad processor are only noticed if you run several apps at the same time.

I have two computers with dual core processors and they are plenty fast with PS2.

4 GB RAM is great. You won't be sorry.

I'd go Dell rather than HP. I think they are more reliable.

I'd go with a video card that has more memory ie. 512 mb.

Go online with Dell and start building your system and see where the prices fall.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the input. Here is what we ordered. Comparing apples to apples HP ended up being almost $1k less than Dell. I will see if it is too late to change the video card.

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)

- Intel® Core 2 Quad processor Q6700 (2.66GHz)

- 4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)

- 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, TV-out, DVI-I, HDMI

- 802.11 b/g USB Wireless LAN card & USB external modem

- 500GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive

- LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive

- 15-in-1 memory card reader, 3 USB, 1394, audio

- No TV Tuner w/remote control

- Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio

- Norton Internet Security 2007 - 15 Months

- Microsoft® Works 8.0

- HP wireless keyboard and HP wireless optical mouse

"I'd go Dell rather than HP. I think they are more reliable." Having owned both its 6 of one and a half dozen of the other.

i think you did well. What type of monitor did you buy? One item you'll grow tired of if the wireles keyboard and mouse. When the batteries run down they get flaky and there's nothing more aggravating than finding you don't have spare batteries when you need them.

I would also make sure you purchase a couple of USB/firewire, external backup drives if you don't own them already.

BTW, processor speed is somewhat overrated. Its sort of like the megapixel argument in photography. As some point the processor is usually waiting for responses from periperal devices such as the hard disk and memory. So the suggestion above about upgrading the video card is a good one. The more resident memory the board has the faster your machine will run. I think with the type of computer you purchased, you've future-proofed yourself a little. I'd be interested at the amount of heat that beast puts out. Please let me know.

cvheck out the blackbird002 from HP

Thanks for the input. Here is what we ordered. Comparing apples to apples HP ended up being almost $1k less than Dell. I will see if it is too late to change the video card.

 

Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)

- Intel® Core 2 Quad processor Q6700 (2.66GHz)

- 4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4x1024)

- 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT, TV-out, DVI-I, HDMI

- 802.11 b/g USB Wireless LAN card & USB external modem

- 500GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive

- LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive

- 15-in-1 memory card reader, 3 USB, 1394, audio

- No TV Tuner w/remote control

- Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio

- Norton Internet Security 2007 - 15 Months

- Microsoft® Works 8.0

- HP wireless keyboard and HP wireless optical mouse

I think you did quite well. Good luck with it!

It shipped today so will know soon how much heat it will put out pretty soon. The monitor we got is the following but I still have a 15" CRT stashed in a closet.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping...e=RK284AA%23ABA

Monitor type: 20.1 in. diagonal, wide LCD - TFT, active matrix

Native Resolution: 1680 x 1050 @ 60Hz recommended

Contrast Ratio (typical): 1000:1 (typical)

Brightness (typical): Up to 300 nits

Pixel pitch Pop-up window displaying more information 0.258 mm pixel pitch

Response rate (typical): 5ms response rate (typical)

Sound: Integrated speakers

ENERGY STAR Qualified: Yes

Signal Input Connector: VGA, DVI-D. HDCP enabled. VGA cable incl.

Misc. N/A

Dimensions: 19.29" W x 7.28" D x 15.63" H

When buying a machine to run 32-bit Vista on, remember that 32-bit architechtures only address 4 gigabytes of address space (some of which is mapped to PCI/PCI-X/Video slots and toys).

For example my new Dell Vostro 400 (3 Ghz dual-core, 4 gigs of ram, 256meg video) only has 3326 megs of usable memory in 32-bit operating system due to the rest of the address space being mapped to peripherals. Something I forgot from my digital electronics class in highschool (Sorry Mr. Maddron, I failed you) and something a PC manufacturer really doesn't want you to know.

Where as, had I purchased 3 gigs of ram (3072 megs of ram) all of which would be available to use.

So the short version, if you buy 4 gigs of ram for a 32-bit operating system, there is a portion (770 megabytes) of that last gig of ram that you won't be using even though you're paying a premium for it.

My suggestion:

A nice dual/quad core with a fast FSB (Front Side Bus) 1333Mhz is nice.

Put 3 gigs of ram in it, the fastest version available

3Gb/s SATA Drives (really nice) In todays machines, the transfer to and from the hard drive is the biggest bottleneck inside a machine, the faster you can be here, the better.

DVD RW DL, blu-ray is not worth it at the moment. I had a CD-R burner in 1992, blank discs were $100 each, I chuckle about it now...

128 or 256 meg video card, depends on what kind of deal dell is running.

24 inch dell widescreen monitor or 2.....

Should easily be able to get in under $2k

Hope this helps....

Joel

I am building my own computer for this purpose. Its much cheaper, I wish I had seen this thread before today. I am leaning more towards a RAID 5 array. I don't know much about Vista and what level of RAID it supports. I am processing photos in another window as I write so I know I need at least dual core.

Building your own machine makes upgrades less painful.

Anyone know the best hardware components to get data on/off CF? When I transfer my current computer almost becomes unresponsive and is very slow. So I know I need a new machine. I am using a laptop and will be moving to a desktop. My laptop is Intel Pentium 2.0Ghz with 2 Gb of RAM. Win XP.

New computer is either going to be two dual core or single quad core AMD CPU. Anyone aware of a CF reader that connects directly to motherboard?